Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway is now the official name of a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, that was formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway. It was constructed in the 1960s in place of abandoned airport runways by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by NASCAR's founding France family which also owns Daytona International Speedway and several other racetracks. At 2.66 miles long, Talladega is the largest track in the Nextel Cup Series and has seating provisions for over 175,000 patrons. It is adjacent to, and visible from, Interstate 20, a major east-west highway across the Southern United States.

Records

• 1984 - The 1984 Winston 500 set a still standing NASCAR record with 75 lead changes in a single race.
• 1986 - The Saab Long Run - set of 2 world and 21 international records with three series SAAB 9000 Turbo - 100,000 km with an average speed of 213.299 km/h and 50,000 miles with an average speed of 213.686 km/h.
• 2003 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his fourth consecutive race at Talladega.
• 2004 - Jeff Gordon wins the Aaron's 499 in controversial fashion. While overtaking Dale Earnhardt Jr. with less than five laps remaining, Brian Vickers spins, and causes a caution, freezing the field. A red flag could not be applied when fewer than five laps were remaining in the race when the caution waved, and there were about four and a third laps remaining. When NASCAR decides not to restart the race, owing to concerns of another incident similar to Rusty Wallace's terrifying 1993 crash on a two-lap shootout, and Mark Martin's injury in a one-lap shootout at Daytona in 1997, fans litter the track with debris. This incident resulted in outrage by Fox commentator Chris Myers, and led to the July implementation of a green-white-checker rule.
• 2004 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the EA Sports 500, but is penalised 25 points for violating NASCAR's policy on obscenity following an interview where he mentions to the pit reporter, "It (his fifth career Talladega win) doesn't mean (BLEEP) (compared to his father's ten wins)."
• 2005 - Jeff Gordon wins the Aaron's 499, the longest Cup race in Talladega history, 516 miles (194 laps), following a green-white-checkered caused by a crash with one and a half laps remaining.